[Billyh]

Hello all,

I have a couple of concerns and I tried to search for solutions but the search command is not working. I am sent to a blank page and the status bar says "done". I have checked all of my settings and can't figure out why it doesn't work. So, I tried searching the manual way... but it is so time consuming.

I am hoping some frequenters will have some patience (which I have noticed is abundant on this board!) and either be able to help, or point to some great posts to read.

In a previous post I was worried about my puppy's massive affection for me vs. my girlfriend (who the puppy was for). We are working on that now...

I read some posts on anxiety and had some more questions. We currently have our puppy sectioned off in the kitchen. It is a very small kitchen, approximately 2' x 6'. We have the pee pad on one side and his crate on the other. At night, we leave him in this "pen" with his crate open and some water in the pen.

At night, we try to leave without any warning so that there is no build-up. He whines for a bit then goes to sleep. Last night, we went to bed at 10 and he whined at midnight, 1, 3 and 6. I am assuming that he wakes up because he as to go pee and then whines afterward. He falls asleep after about 10 minutes or so (I am guessing.... because I was so tired).

Is this method correct? I know that others mentioned that they have to get up and let their puppy out every 2 hours or so. We would like to train our puppy whatever way is best. However, he has not yet received his final bout of boosters and we live on a farm. We would like to keep the outside time at a minimum at present. So, should we be getting up when he whines at night eventhough he has access to the pee pad?

I was thinking of another method that I could try. I could try getting up at pre-determined intervals to play for 5 minutes or so. I could then extend the duration of the intervals until he realizes that we will be returning in the morning to play. Or should I just let him whine a bit and he will eventually figure out that we will be back in the morning? If it is just best to do whatever we want and ignore the whining, then that's what we will do.

In trying to make him realize that his pen is a place he wants to be, I put him in there during the day every now and then. I am not certain how often I should be doing this... I will stick to a schedule if I knew what it should be. As most of us, I want to find a balance between not neglecting him, but not being overly affectionate to the point where he is too dependent on us.

At the moment, I put him in his pen and he cried for about 5 minutes, then went to his crate to lie down. Is this what I want? Should he not want to play on his own a bit? So far, he either lies down or whines in the pen. How long should I wait to let him out during the day? If I wait until he wakes up, he is whining and I don't want to let him out for fear of him thinking that whining gets the attention he wants. If I go in before he wakes up then I am essentially waking him up... which he does not seem overly happy about. I was thinking that once he falls asleep, I will find a way to open up his pen to the small living room where I am. That way he can make his way out to see me when he wakes up. If we do the same thing in the morning, then at night he will know that at some point the pen/gate will be open for him to come out.

How long should puppies be sleeping vs. playing?

On another note, if we anticipate that our yorkie will eventually be able to sleep near us, should we be starting with him in an area away from the bedroom? I have heard that some people put the crate in the room with them at night but I believe our little one will whine regardless. He whines in his pen during the day eventhough we are 5 ft away. As well, if we put him in the room with us now and he does have to go to the bathroom, we would have to move him back to his pen and then back to the crate again.

As well, what are some priorities to work on at the moment.... there are so many to consider.


Examples like:

touching the teeth, the feet
housebreaking
cleaning the eyes

I can work on the tricks later... want to knock the priorities off first...


Sorry for the long post. Again, if there are similar threads... point me there! Any help is appreciated in any way to help with anxiety issues.